Meaning & use
white plague
An old name for tuberculosis, so called because it made sufferers look pale and drained of blood.
See it in a sentence
In the nineteenth century, the white plague killed people of every social class across crowded cities.
Doctors once had few defenses against the white plague until antibiotics were developed in the twentieth century.
A note on using this word
White plague is a historical, somewhat literary term; modern medical writing simply uses tuberculosis or TB.
Words with a similar meaning
consumptiontuberculosis
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